The Last Cooper
by zewing
Summary: The Thievius Raccoonus, burned before his very eyes. He doesn't know who did this, but one day he'll find them, and make them pay. Starts at the beginning, where Sly loses his parents. Takes place during an AU Sly 1 and will not resemble the actual game itself. Sly and Carmelita are siblings in this story.
1. Prologue

**So I decided to branch a bit off and do this story since I noticed it's similar to Star Fox (animal-like people), just set in the real world almost. There are things that you need to know before reading this though.**

**I am literally changing the entire possible sequence from the beginning of Sly's life into something I find could be a possibility. Another thing to mention, but this will have a Sly and Carmelita relationship in it, but not what you're thinking. You'll figure it out next chapter.**

**At the beginning of most chapters, I'll be doing a "Sly monologue" type thing like in the games. It'll be a bit different, but it'll help you keep up with the story. Very rarely will I ever put a monologue at the end, only if it ends an important chapter.**

**Without further adieu, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper. This is just for entertainment purposes.**

* * *

"**The Last Cooper" by Zewing**

**Prologue:**

Silence. Nothing stirred or made noise, except the occasional sound of breathing. A Cooper uses the night to its fullest potential, but not this night.

For a Cooper, nighttime usually meant activity. Coming from a line of renowned thieves, they naturally want to adopt a nocturnal schedule. Unfortunately, a general side effect of this is that the spouse had to put up with potential changes to a sleep schedule, if only to keep in touch during periods in which a heist took place.

It was June, and no heists have been pulled off for quite some time. So, the family of three returned to a normal sleep schedule, in which nighttime became sleep time.

*RIIIIIIIIIIIING*

The once peaceful and sleep filled face of Connor Cooper now twitched. Without opening his eyes, he reached over and picked up the source of the disturbance. He opened his eyes a bit and pressed the "Accept" button.

However, this noise wasn't emanating from a normal telephone. Only a select few people in the world had the number to this phone; very rarely has it ever been used. Due to the type of jobs Conner did, he was technically on the run from law enforcement. Therefore, he made sure this phone would not show up on the power grid, as well as the phone grid.

"What is it?" he asked; his eyes blinked slowly as his voice hardly registered as more than a whisper.

"Oh thank goodness I'm not too late," said a man with a frightened voice.

"Jim? You have bet-" He couldn't finish his complaint as McSweeney cut him off.

"We've been hacked. I don't know how, but someone wants you dead. They explicitly took info related to you off our servers. I have no clue who they are either. Just get out of there and move somewhere else fast!"

"WHAT!" This sudden outburst caused his wife to jolt up in bed. He continued after a brief moment of fast paced thinking, "Where are they? How much time do I have?"

"I don't know where they are, but they have to be close to you by now. Our servers detected this little intrusion hours ago, but for some reason I got alerted just now. Musta' been some sorta' bug or something. Things just don't ad-" The voice of McSweeney ended abruptly. His phone was no longer in service. His time just ran out.

"Hello? Are you still there? Shit," he said. He then turned towards his wife, "Honey, go get Sly. We're-"

*RIIIIIIIIIIIING*

His mind couldn't be playing tricks on him, could it? One moment his phone call ended, being replaced with the "no longer in service" sound. Moments later, it was back on. His wife didn't even make it out the room when she turned and faced the phone. A hollow feeling filled Connor's stomach and he feared what this call could be. With great hesitation and a nervous, almost fearful voice, he answered the call and spoke, "Hello?"

Slow, deep breathing could be heard through the receiver. The seconds ticked by, racking up the amount of time he spent waiting. It only lasted a few seconds, but the mindless, internal rambling of Connor made it feel like minutes. Anxiety and curiosity battled inside him until a voice finally spoke up, "Hello, thief."

"Who is this? What do you want from me?" he questioned. He put his hand to the phone's receiver, preventing his voice from being heard on the other end as he turned his head towards his wife again, "Go wake Sly, NOW!"

"You can't run from fate, Cooper; there is no escape," said the unknown, mechanical sounding voice, which promptly got Connor's attention again as he put the phone back up against his ear. The voice continued, "I've given you time to reconsider the ways of your ancestors, wondering if you would be the first to put down the ways of the thief. Twenty eight years and marriage couldn't stop your obsession. You disappoint me, Cooper."

Connor gripped the phone harder as anger and fear coursed through his veins, "Stop ignoring me and answer what I asked."

"The dark has always been an ally for you Coopers. Tonight, it shall be your enemy. How does it feel, being betrayed but your own clan's natural friend," said the voice as Connor's attempts at getting answers were ignored.

He went towards his bedroom window, which faced the front of the house on the second floor. Outside he couldn't see anything except the occasional quick movement to his left and right; they were surrounding the house.

Connor hand made this house. The location, however, required a lot of research. His home resided in the middle of a forest with a modest sized clearing. Getting power and an emergency phone line here required significant effort and cunning to avoid detection. The location was picked out as it would keep his family safe from thieves he stole from. Today, the advantage of being hidden backfired.

"It's a shame you and your wife have only moments left to live. Till death do thee part; in sickness and in health. You made a promise to her, to never leave her. How does it feel, knowing that your promise is about to be broken, while at the same time being kept?"

_No. NO! I can't let them take my family from me. What can I do? I'm surrounded with absolutely no escape. Who am I dealing with? Can I….can I fight for their lives? It's my only chance at letting them live, but I know I won't make it out alive. At the very least I'm taking some of them with me. The Cooper bloodline….I'm sorry dad. I could have settled down, or at the very least took less high profile heists when I had the chance, and I blew it. Why didn't I make a cellar?_

"How about we place a little wager?" Connor began, resorting to unrealistic and drastic measures.

"You would be wise to just accept your fate as you are in no position to negotiate, Cooper. Unless, of course, the Thievius Raccoonus is involved."

_I'd rather my son have a future than no future, _Connor thought, gritting his teeth. The Thievius Raccoonus held all of the Cooper clan's greatest accomplishments. It was like a guide book, intended to inform and prepare the next Cooper. Each member of the Cooper line would add pages to the book, making the next in line even more prepared to carry on the family tradition. Tonight, that family tradition was threatened to extinction.

"I'll wager the Thievius Raccoonus for my family's safety," said Connor. Laughter could be heard on the other side as the unknown voice found this comical. Like a cornered beast, he'd be willing to do anything, regardless of how unlikely the outcome weighed in his favor.

"Come to the front of the house, armed with only your fists. There, you shall fight to the death with one of my best men. If you succeed, I'll leave your family alone. If you fail," the voice stopped for several seconds before speaking again, "You know what'll happen if you fail. Say your good-byes while you can. Come outside within five minutes, or we're coming in," the voice stopped, becoming replaced with the out of service sound.

Why was this happening to him? Who were these people? He did know one thing for certain, he had less than five minutes to spend time with his wife and child. He didn't bother hanging the phone up; he made great haste to get to Sly's bedroom. No noise emitted from him as he reached the door.

"I'm coming in," he whispered. He heard a small gasp at first, but quickly brushed it aside and entered the room.

On the bed, his wife had her arms wrapped around their son, Sly. He was only five years old; he had a sense of what went on around him, but not a keen sense. She had a scared look on her, forming an almost death grip around her son. Sly, however, kept trying to doze back to sleep, but disturbances from his parents prevented that.

She looked into the eyes of Connor and saw his fear and determination. She didn't know what was going on, but had faith that her husband would get them out of this safely. Connor then sat down on the bed next to her and did something that made the moment a bit less dire. He gave her the most passionate kiss to ever come from him, like a soldier's last kiss before being shipped off to war.

"Please, don't go," she pleaded.

"I have to. You two are too important to me," he retorted, wiping the tears from her eyes. He continued, "Keep Sly safe and no matter what you hear, do not come after me."

She simply nodded her head and kissed him again, fearing this would be the last time she'd see him alive. She still held a grip on her fully awake son now. He knew something bad was happening now, otherwise his parents wouldn't be bugging him at such a time.

Connor looked at his son and spoke, almost choking up on his words, "Be strong, Sly. No matter what you do in life, know that you will always make me proud." He then hugged his son, producing a confused look on the little one.

"I have to go now," Conner said, ending his embrace with his son. Time was against him and if he stalled any more, his only chance at saving his family would end. He then stood up and walked towards the open door. He stopped and shot his family one final look and uttered those famous three words, "I love you." The door then shut, forever separating father and son.

* * *

_You ever have one of those days where your life changed like the flip of a switch? Well, that's what happened to me, Sylvester Cooper, when I was five years old. Here I was, minding my own business and enjoying a peaceful slumber when my mother woke me up. Naturally, I'd be a bit cranky, but she proceeded to hug me. I'd take her embrace over my blanket any day. Abrupt as it may be, I did enjoy it and almost went back to sleep. _

_However, my father then entered my room and gave my mother a kiss. I knew something was amiss as I then noticed my mother crying, and how scared my father looked. What was going on? Next thing I know he's telling me his good-byes. Could this be another one of those dangerous heists he had to pull off? I thought it was, but never had he looked at me like this before._

_There I sat, embracing my mother when I hear the most horrid sound imaginable. It had to be someone screaming, but I refused to believe who it came from. My dad was strong, especially for a raccoon. Whoever made him produce this sound had to be very strong too. _

_The next sound took my mother over the edge. I never heard this sound before, but the reaction from my mother told me it had to be terrible. She broke down, nearly causing both of us to plummet out of my bed._

_What happened to my father? Why did he scream? What was that sound? So many questions swirled inside my head as the sound of a door crashing could be heard. There had to be several of them, each muttering inaudibly things to one another. Occasionally, I'd catch a word or two of what they were saying, mostly about my dad's book. He didn't let me read it, at least not until I would have turned eight. _

_I never got a chance to read the book as the next thing I know, my door became dislodged and a humongous man entered my room. He had to be a bulldog, but never have I seen someone as massive as him; he looked like he could bend a tank in half. Next thing I know, he lifted me and my mother up and carried us to our living room. She tried to resist, but he was just too massive to affect._

_He threw my mother on the ground, next to an unmoving body. He then put me down on our chair. I knew who this face down man was, especially when my mother frantically tried to get him to move, sobbing uncontrollably. Why did fate do this to us?_

_I then heard a clicking noise, which got my mother to jolt her eyes towards the source; her tear stricken eyes were full of fear. I looked at the source to my right and noticed it came from the same bulldog, but I couldn't see what he was holding. My mother then told me to close my eyes. I did, and next thing I know a loud sound resonated throughout the room and hurt my ears. I tried to keep my eyes closed, but I opened them to see my mother slumped over my father's body. _

_This was it. This night would be the last night I live. But for some reason, they didn't kill me, nor did they even attempt to hurt me. I could only sit there, paralyzed by fear, and cry. Why must people kill in this world we live in? _

_Crying can only do so much. I wanted nothing more than to weep when the bulldog forced me to watch something. There, in the hands of an enormous panda, was none other than the Thievius Raccoonus, my father's book. The next thing I know, it burst into flames. My ancestor's legacy, gone._

_I was truly alone now. I had no parents or family left. I heard sounds from the others, probably ransacking the house. Sitting alone with the two large figures, I could only wonder why they refused to hurt me? Did they have morals? I didn't know, but as everyone began leaving my house, I heard a shrill, cold, mechanical voice speak to me. I never saw the source of this weird voice, but the words still haunt me to this day._

"_You will meet with the same fate if I ever catch you stealing, Cooper. Heed this warning, for second chances never come to those who steal."_

* * *

**If you take anything from this chapter, take away that a poor, innocent kid has had his life change drastically. Sly is now 5 years old in this, instead of 8 so he NEVER got a chance to read the Thievius Raccoonus. You can probably guess who did this, but I intentionally left out some things done to Sly's dad as I need that info later on. The less the boy knows now, the better. I'll get some cover art for this later. Aside from that, expect the next chapter up within a week as I'm now ironing out the ending to Chapter 1.**


	2. Chapter 1: A New Beginning

**A few things to go over.**

**First off, I have never written a chapter this long aside for any story so wow.**

**Vulpes is another word for "Fox," with Vulpi being plural. When you're dealing with characters by the name of Fox, it gets confusing lol.**

**For setting, I guess assume early 21st century. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper, nor do I own any lyrics used. Credit is given to their owners in the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A New Beginning**

_They all left; and there I was, crying near the bodies of my parents. My mother didn't do anything to deserve this. Why did they take her from me? Why didn't they kill me? Too many questions that I simply couldn't answer filled my consciousness._

_I did nothing but grieve. I don't even know how long tears ran down my muzzle, but it felt like forever. With great hesitation, I stood up. I couldn't just sit here and wait to die. I had to call someone, before they returned and killed me. I refused to leave the house though; they could still be out there, waiting for me._

_I ran to my parent's room, falling on the stairs a few times as a result. It hurt, but not as bad as what I felt on the inside. We only owned an emergency phone, one that would only be used in dire situations. _

_It took me a few minutes, but eventually I found the phone on the floor. Why wasn't it on its charger? I was certain no one but that bulldog came upstairs. My parents showed me how to dial for help. However, they warned me that it should only be used in certain situations, like if my mother suffered a heart attack and my dad was out. As much as I wanted someone, anyone, to come help, I hesitated. Would I be calling the police? My dad was on the run from Interpol and the rest of their sister agencies. Would they catch hold of me, forcing me to tell this experience? I couldn't repeat what I saw today; it simply couldn't be done. _

_I took a deep breathe and expelled all those stalling thoughts. I then hit the button on the bottom right, labeled "SOS." This was a custom function added to the phone, and within moments I could hear the number programmed into the button being dialed. Who would this call? Would they be able to find me? I just realized our house wasn't the most easily accessible and couldn't give directions. I hope this all turns out for the better._

* * *

Peaceful sleep had its grip on the vulpi couple. After a long day of spending time with the one you commit yourself solely to, rest in the arms of your mate ends up being the highlight of the day. All good things, however, must come to an end as an irritating noise resounded throughout the room. The woman growled, turning her back away from the noise, knowing exactly what disturbed her slumber. The man, having had his grip retracted from his mate, picked up the phone reluctantly.

"Hello?" he asked in a weak voice.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Inspector. We need you to check out a possible disturbance," the voice stated.

"Really?" he began, a hint of anger in his voice. He continued, "Can't you send someone else? I've been working my ass off. It's Saturday for goodness sake. Aside from that," he stopped, looking at his digital clock, "It's four in the morning."

"I understand, sir, but you did tell me to call you if a Cooper was involved."

"Cooper?" he began, sitting up in his bed with a look of extreme, albeit groggy, focus on him. He continued, "What did he steal this time?"

"I don't know, sir. I don't have all the details as I'm only going off what was given to me. All I know is that I have Susan here talking to a Sylvester Cooper who sounds scared as hell," the voice said.

_Sylvester? Why would his son call us? _the Inspector thought.

"I'm on my way. Upload the coordinates and any details about this to my cruiser. Good-bye," replied the inspector.

He took his job with pride, but every now and again his wife would complain, accusing Interpol of overworking her husband. He couldn't blame her; she had genuine concerns, especially when he wanted to help raise their daughter.

The twenty-seven year old Inspector, Joseph Fox, whispered into his wife's ear, "I have to go. I love you." He then kissed her on the side of her muzzle, sad he had to leave her to sleep alone.

"Just be safe," she replied, drifting back to her slumber.

Joseph began getting dressed in his Inspector attire. With his status, he only needed to wear his badge to let others identify him. With him being considered off-duty, he still dressed for the occasion, as he had too much pride in what he does. He put on standard issue Interpol pants, which were blue, rainproof, and allowed for ease of movement; a black undershirt, mostly to keep himself from looking indecent; and a yellowish tan overcoat, which always had his Interpol badge pinned onto it. He then put on his watch and attached his shock pistol to his waistline. Finally, he attached a cell phone holder to the other side of his waist, putting his cell phone inside.

He had a slightly above average build. No, he wasn't massive, but he had the strength and conditioning to hold himself up in a fight. Relying on only one's weapons leaves one exposed when up close and personal. Height-wise, he had to be about five feet eleven inches. He also had a lighter shade of red fur, belonging to the species of vulpes known as "red fox."

Slowly, and as quietly as possible, he made his way to the front door to put on his boots. Food wasn't even on his mind when he exited his home. His hunger could wait; Cooper couldn't.

* * *

Inspector Joseph Fox neared his destination, twenty five kilometers from his own house, all the while questioning the odd circumstances surrounding this. His home resided near Interpol's Paris department, which kept him close and active with any new cases; but how did Cooper manage to keep himself hidden this close to his own home?

Why would Connor's son call Interpol, and why was his son calling from the middle of a forest? He speculated many things, but he stopped his mind rambling when he approached the foot of the forest. From here, it would be a nearly one and a half kilometer trek on foot.

Before leaving his cruiser, Joseph called Interpol via his cell phone, "Are there any more details about this disturbance?"

"Yes," the same voice that woke him up began. This was a feline by the name of Sampson. He continued speaking a moment later, "It seems that this disturbance came from the Cooper family household. He still won't tell us exactly what happened, but he did mention that the 'bad men' aren't around anymore. I advise you approach with extreme caution. I'm a little iffy on this whole thing."

"Understood. Keep your phone clear of all incoming calls except mine, just in case," he said, ending the call.

Joseph left his cruiser and approached the vehicle's trunk. With hardly any visibility, he'd need some assistance. He lifted the trunk lid with his key and took out a low-power laser and some hi-tech night vision goggles. The laser would only appear as a faint dot on whatever it hits, instead of the usual continuous beam to the naked eye. The goggles would amplify this faint light source to allow even the blackest of nights to be traversed safely. With everything in check, he set off into the dense, dark forest.

* * *

There only remained roughly forty minutes before sunlight would break the horizon. It was unknown how long he'd have to investigate, but he had a hunch it'd take a while. The temperature outside hovered around fifty three degrees Fahrenheit and nothing obstructed the night sky, except the trees that surrounded him. His watch had a built in GPS, which indicated he had to travel a few hundred more meters before he reached his destination. So far, no issues came up.

Suddenly, a clearing could be seen ahead with a house standing in the center. He got to within five meters of the clearing before he took a knee and observed his surroundings. Seeing no threats or hearing threatening noises, he called Sampson on his cell phone. Once Sampson picked up, Joseph spoke quietly, "I'm here. All I can see is that the door is broken off it's hinges." After sending details to Sampson, his mind wandered towards the boy. He added, "How's the boy doing?"

"He's doing fine. Frankly, I'm surprised Susan has been able to keep talking to him for the past hour. He's calmed down a bit, but sometimes he'd go a long time without saying a word."

"That's good," Joseph said, trying to word his next question, "Can you tell Susan to ask him something?"

"Sure thing. Just tell me so I can relay it," Sampson replied.

"All right. Ask if there's anyone else in the house."

Joseph could hear only a little bit of what went on as the feline's voice sounded low. He then got his confirmation, "No one else is in the house. Just him and, well, he started to cry when he said something like 'Pair.' If I had to guess, something bad happened to his parents."

_Shit. I hope this isn't true. I've spent the past seven years of my career chasing that damn raccoon. I can only imagine what Sylvester is feeling. I need to get in there as fast as I can and make sure he's alright. I may hate his father, but only a monster would do this to the young, _thought Joseph.

"Sampson, tell Sylvester that I'm approaching his home. Let me know if he understands. Tell him that I'm here to help him."

"Understood," he said, relaying the info to Susan. He spoke up once again, "Apparently he's near a window overlooking your position. Can you see a window?"

Joseph looked at the house, which only stood fifty meters from his current position. There was a window on both sides of the front. He spoke up, "I see two of them. Can you tell him to lean against the window?"

Sampson did just as asked and, twenty seconds later, Joseph could see someone looking outside the left window. He now ascertained the location of Sylvester and was ready to move out.

"I'm moving in, Sampson. Relay that to Sylvester. No more communications until I call you again. Understood?"

"Roger that. Remember, proceed with caution," responded Sampson.

Joseph began to walk out of his hiding spot into an exposed clearing with his shock pistol drawn. His guard stayed up, but as he began approaching the front door the stench of blood hit his vulpine nose. _Home invasion? Murder? Self-defense? _he thought. Something happened in this clearing, something bad. Even with his night vision he knew it'd be quite a challenge to pinpoint the location of the stench, but more important things needed tending to first.

He reached the door and, without stepping inside, discovered why the young Cooper called Interpol. He now knew why Sampson took him away from his blissful sleep with his wife. He now understood the severity of this situation, both for himself and the young one upstairs. The sight was sickening. There, in the center of the room, lay the body of the man Joseph chased for so long. No movement was made; the body just lay there, face down. Laying on top of his back was the body of another raccoon; one could only assume this was his wife.

Joseph kept his composure together, regardless of how hard he found himself wanting to vomit. It wasn't that he never saw this type of crime scene; he knew Connor on a more personal level, at least as personal as small talk while chasing him got. Connor was meant to be his catch, not someone's murder victim. He then turned around and faced the clearing, inspecting the land. Once he determined his next plan of action, he called Sampson back.

"Sampson, I need you to bring an evac chopper here. We have two casualties," Joseph commanded.

"I'm not sure if I can do that, unless you can confirm landing conditions," Sampson replied.

Joseph sighed, realized he almost made a huge mistake. He began speaking once he focused more, "I'm sorry Sampson. We can't have anyone land here until after a first response investigation since I smelled evidence in the clearing. Regardless, I need you to send a chopper here with a couple of our detectives. Think you can handle that?"

"Understood. We'll have them rope-dropped there within thirty minutes. Oh shit," he began, startling Joseph for a moment, "Susan lost connection with Sylvester. Poor kid has been through so much lately. Get to him fast and make sure everything's all right."

"On my way," he said. Joseph entered the Cooper household and slowly proceeded to find the stairway that led to the second floor. He took note on the blood smears that trekked from the front door to the bodies. He noted some blood splatter alongside the wall adjacent the front door. Finally, he noticed the chaos infested bottom floor. Initial assumptions hardly made him an Inspector, but he could only wonder how the clever Connor died in his own hiding place.

He reached the staircase and slowly crept up them. Right now, he couldn't be bothered playing detective when a young, innocent child needed help. Ignoring his job embedded instincts, he made his way towards the closed door that he could only assume held his target. The hi-tech night vision goggles would probably scare him, so he took them off and sat them down gently. Next to the goggles, he placed his shock pistol and the low-power laser.

Joseph proceeded to lightly tap against the door. He then spoke up, using a trust tactic to ease the raccoon's nerves, "Sylvester? This is Inspector Joseph Fox of Interpol. I understand you were talking to a friend of mine by the name of Susan. She mentioned that I'm here to help you, didn't she?"

"You're not here to arrest me, are you?" the scared raccoon said.

"I'm not here to arrest you, Sylvester. I'm here to help you," Joseph replied calmly.

"But you hate my dad. You chase him all the time."

Joseph bit back his tongue, almost about to say something bad about Connor. He needed to keep a calm demeanor and not pour his hatred on the son of one of Interpol's most wanted criminal. He somehow knew Connor talked about him to his family, but this didn't mean he'd lose his temper and make a mistake of scaring the poor boy more.

"You have no reason to fear me arresting you, Sylvester. You have a clean record, and as such I will make sure you get out of here and into a safe place."

"Will you catch the bad men that did this?" the raccoon asked.

"Of course I will. I uphold justice, regardless of who is involved. I can promise you that." After a brief pause, in which he believed the young Cooper calmed down, he asked, "May I come in?"

He listened closely and heard Sylvester whisper, "Yes." He opened the door slowly and immediately spotted the terror struck raccoon.

He almost had his entire body covered up in his parent's blankets; his eyes were all that were exposed. Apparently, this seemed to be his protection now that the phone no longer worked. Without moving from the door, Joseph asked another question, "Is it ok if I sit down on the bed, next to you?"

The raccoon nodded his head. Joseph took things slow, not wanting to spook the already distraught child. He sat down and took a seat at the edge of the bed, patting his paw to get Sylvester to sit next to him. It took a while for him to react, but eventually he sat next to the vulpes, still wrapped in the blanket.

He couldn't ask him what went on. As much as he wanted to catch those responsible, he couldn't make him relive such a devastating experience. He did, however, need to know where to potential send him off to. If he had no family, an orphanage would have to do.

"Do you have any family who could take you in?" Joseph asked.

Sylvester winched a bit and sobbed. Joseph cursed himself, getting an answer without words. The child spoke up, "I have no one. It was just me, my dad, my mom, and my sister."

"Sister? Is she in this house?" he questioned, finding it odd his profile on Connor had been false.

"She….only mommy told me. She never told daddy," Sylvester said, producing a confused look upon the Inspector.

_My reports aren't wrong. Sister…..his wife must have been pregnant. But how did he know if it would have been a girl if Connor didn't know? Speculation? Either way that's three casualties….those sick bastards. I wonder…no…I can't do that, _he thought.

"Were you excited to have a sister to grow up with?" asked the Inspector.

Sylvester smiled a tiny bit, but still had an overall gloomy look, "Yes. I wanted someone to play with. It gets lonely here when my dad-," he started. He then said something that tugged at the heart of the Inspector. He hugged the vulpes and cried, "Why did this happen? Why did they spare me?"

"I don't know, but one day we will find those responsible and punish them," responded the Inspector in a friendly tone, in which he returned the hug. This hug must have lasted at least fifteen minutes. Sylvester appeared to still be awake, but wanted nothing more than to never end this embrace, using Joseph as a retreat from reality.

Joseph knew this case would be a tad bit complicated to solve due to his only eye witness being a child. It was very uncommon, but some cases had Inspectors question a young one, forcing them to recall traumatic experiences. Some would get information vital to the case, but the majority would leave the witness in severe emotional agony. Inspector Joseph Fox never in his seven year career had to report to a crime scene that involved a child, and he would never force this little one to bring up anything ever again.

Joseph couldn't say he was very fond of the Coopers, but he spent the last seven years of his life chasing Connor. While he was a thief and repetitively broke the law, Connor still seemed to point him in the right direction towards certain criminal organizations. The more he thought about it, the more Connor seemed like a vigilante, only he stole from those who already stole, and relayed certain information to Interpol, Joseph especially.

Did he hate Connor with a passion? He could answer that question either way. On one hand, he received important tips and evidence to help persecute some of the most elusive criminals, while on the other he still had to deal with the fact Connor broke the law.

He considered an absurd idea in his mind, one that arose from his parenting instincts of having the raccoon find solace in his grip, and his wife's condition made it harder to not contemplate it. After having their daughter, Carmelita Montoya Fox, the doctors warned them that his wife would not survive another child birth. This devastated the couple, mostly since they wished to have a son and probably another child some where down the line. Children grow up better with siblings, and right now his wife's sad looks she'd get at certain nights started to tug at his heart, degrading him for not providing her with something she wanted. They planned on visiting an orphanage soon, but work kept getting in his way. Maybe, just maybe he could perform a miracle.

However, if the raccoon before him had any training to become like his father, Joseph would have no choice but to crush that thought. His family came from a long line of peace keepers: military, police, detectives, etc. Sylvester's family, however, came from a long line of thieves.

"Your father," he began, looking down at the crying raccoon, "Has he ever taught you how to steal?"

He sniffled and answered, still gripping the vulpes, "He never got to. He said he'd give me the choice to learn from him when I turned eight, but now the book is gone and I never will."

_Book? Connor told me about a book he spoke highly of. If it's gone, then I….I don't know if I'm being selfish or what, but if I just send him to an orphanage he'll never receive the love required to overcome this experience. I doubt we can replace his family, but maybe I can put him on the right track, _Joseph thought.

As with every important decision, Joseph couldn't act impulsively. He needed his wife's approval first. His mind came back to the real world and a job needed to be done before planning for the future could happen. He needed to get Sylvester out of this house of death, and he needed a chopper to do it efficiently. Joseph kept the hug on when he decided to call Sampson again.

"What's the ETA on those detectives, Sampson?" asked Joseph.

"They should be above you in a matter of moments. Now that there's light out, landing should be no problem," he responded. After inaudible sounds from what he assumed was Susan, he asked, "How's the little one doing?"

"He's fine. Oh, and before I forget, tell the pilot that me and another passenger are going to need a lift to my cruiser. Remind the pilot that the clearing has evidence, so don't land the chopper. Tell the detectives to start with the clearing first, that way we can create an impromptu landing pad away from evidence. I have a few things to take care of first, but I trust they can handle themselves before I get back here."

"Understood. Information is being patched to the pilot and detectives as we speak. Sampson, out."

He looked down at the raccoon and spoke softly, "Hey buddy, you hungry?"

"A little bit," he replied.

"Me too. I could go for some eggs and toast. How about you?"

"I'd like that too," he replied, almost emotionlessly, but did need some nourishment.

"Before we leave, I need you to listen to me," Joseph began, about to break some potentially bad news, "We can't take anything from this house with us. Aside from that, I'm going to be finding you a new home. Do you understand?"

Truth be told, the raccoon knew it would come to this. Who would his new family be? Would they be abusive? Would anyone take in the son of a world class thief? It was out of his control, but he wished they would accept him and not judge him.

"Yes." It wasn't an easy word to mutter, but he had no choice. He couldn't take his toys, his clothes, or even something to remind himself that he had a family.

A chopper could be heard faintly, signaling to the Inspector that he had to leave. He looked down at the child and spoke, "That's our ride out of here. Let's go get some food."

"Okay," Sylvester said.

Joseph and the raccoon stood up from the bed, when the Inspector made a startling observation; the boy had no shirt or shoes on, wearing only a pair of pajamas. He couldn't bend the law into his favor, but he couldn't just let him walk outside like this. Recalling what they had to do to get inside the chopper, he temporarily had to deal with the boy being exposed.

He then realized they'd be moving past the boy's dead parents. Getting down on one knee, he spoke to the child, "Do you trust me, Sylvester?"

Did he trust him? Of course he did, especially since he appeared friendly. Without hesitation, he replied, "Yes."

"Then you need to let me carry you. I also need you to keep your eyes closed for me. Can you do this?"

He simply nodded his head and, with relative ease, allowed the Inspector to lift him up and carry him. His head rested on Joseph's shoulder with his arms wrapped around his neck. Joseph then put one of his arms around his back, and the other around the back of his thighs. Once he could feel Joseph's body move, he closed his eyes tightly.

* * *

The trip to the chopper took only a few moments. Joseph made sure the child kept his eyes closed, especially inside the living room. They passed up two detectives, in which Joseph told them he left his equipment inside. Afterwards, they rope lifted and made their trip to the cruiser.

About five minutes later, and with great caution, Joseph roped down the helicopter with Sylvester. He signaled to the chopper with a thumbs-up and watched it leave in the distance. Once they got near the cruiser, he sat the boy down and took his overcoat off. He then put it on the child, giving him at least some decency. After that, he helped him into the passenger's seat and buckled him up. Joseph then approached the right side of the vehicle and took his place at the driver's seat.

"Do you want to listen to some music?" questioned Joseph as he started up the cruiser. He wanted the boy to feel as comfortable as possible.

"Do you happen to have some 80's?" he asked. Inwardly, the Inspector smiled. _Just another reason to pursue this idea._

"Do I have the 80's? If you look closely, I have a built in XM radio. Do you know who runs the 80's station?" Joseph asked, testing the little one's knowledge while he began driving towards the Fox residence.

"Mark Goodman," he answered, smiling. _I see his father shares the same music taste as me. Makes sense that it rubbed off on him. 80's station is the best station…..how did he listen to the radio without our power stations picking up an anomaly? I'll have to search the residence extensively later on. _

Mark Goodman happened to be one of the best online radio DJ's. He was a silver fox, which made his entertainment value skyrocket due to the rarity of his fur color.

Joseph turned on the radio and the sound of a song started to fade out, being replaced by Mark Goodman's voice, "You've just listened to 'Wild Boys,' by Duran Duran. Coming in at number one on our 'Wild 80's countdown,' a song by a bunch of simians who want nothing more than to swing from vine to vine. That's right, it's 'Tarzan Boy,' by Baltimora.

The song started as Joseph snuck a few glances to his passenger, when he noticed his disinterested gaze out the window. As much as he tried to make him comfortable, he had to remind himself who he's dealing with. He smiled momentarily, waiting for the first part of the song to end. He could afford to make himself look like a fool, especially with what the child went through. He was just glad it was very early in the morning and no one had their eyes upon him.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh," he started, synchronize singing with the radio, which caused Sylvester to look over at him. He watched him repeat this same line two more time, in which Joseph had on a goofy look upon his muzzle. He smiled slightly, and continued to watch.

"Nigh to night," he continued, shaking his head from side to side, "Gimme the other, gimme the other chance tonight." Joseph stopped singing at this point and turned slightly towards the raccoon and spoke, "Come on, join in. I know you know this song too. Get ready, it'll be fun."

Sylvester indeed knew this song, and he waited. Once the next verse came up, he and Joseph both sang, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh." After repeating this a second time, they looked over at each other and tried to keep it up. Halfway through the next repeat, they both couldn't take it anymore and broke into laughter.

While still chuckling, Joseph spoke to the raccoon, "Now that's better. I wonder what the next song will be?"

* * *

Singing passed the time quickly for both of them; the spirits of the little one were lifted. The boy was enjoying the last song they sang, "Mr. Roboto," that he didn't realize they stopped moving. After gazing around a bit, he questioned the odd appearance of this orphanage. Surely they didn't make them this small.

After parking into a driveway, Joseph exited the vehicle and approached the passenger side door. He opened it and spoke, "Here we are. Eggs and toast are on me."

The boy sat there, still believing this was an orphanage, and spoke up, "Will I make friends here?"

"Friends?" the Inspector responded confusedly. He further pushed the issue, "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't this where you take people like me?" Sylvester replied.

Joseph didn't know what to think of this, until he analyzed what he just said. He chuckled inwardly as he figured out what the boy meant. If all things go as planned, the raccoon would make new friends, friends that last a life time.

"This is my home. Now, are you still hungry?" This caused Sylvester to put on a surprised look, until he assumed he was only upholding his offer to give him food. Food did sound appealing to the boy.

Joseph led Sylvester inside, took off his boots, and proceeded directly to the living room, which was on his right once he passed through the door. He motioned for the boy to follow him and asked, "Do you like cartoons?"

"Yes," he stated and, after seeing that the vulpes wanted him to sit on the couch, did as instructed. The cartoon caught the undivided attention of Sylvester.

"Just stay here and watch this. I'll be back in a moment and make you some breakfast." The raccoon looked at Joseph, nodded, and immediately shot his attention towards the television.

Joseph proceeded towards him and his wife's bedroom. He went up the stairs, which resided directly across from his front door. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he went around the banister to his left and proceeded towards the end of the hallway. He opened the door gently and saw his wife facing him already. She had one paw on her hip, one of the side of her muzzle, and a tired expression visible for her husband to see.

"You make too much noise," she stated. She just laid in bed once she heard him pull in and waited for him to return to her.

"You're one to talk," he replied, smiling. He didn't want to seem rude, but he had to end the sweet talk and get down to important business. He continued to speak, "I have a guest over. I'm making eggs and toast too. You don't need to dress formal; your robe should be fine."

She sighed and unhappily agreed. She expected him to return and lay in bed with her for a couple more hours; this was one of their rare weekends alone.

On weekends, the couple would usually sleep until 09:00. Glancing over at the clock, she noticed it read 06:58, way too early to even want to do anything. Before he left, she spoke up in a naughty voice, "No good morning kiss?"

He stopped, turned around, and smiled. Hastily, he approached his wife and gave her a kiss. Afterwards, he spoke up, "Please don't be long. I really want you to meet him." He left to give his wife some privacy.

_This had better be worth getting up this early,_ she thought.

* * *

He made his way to the kitchen, which was directly across from the living room, and proceed to make eggs and toast. It wasn't a hard thing to make, and skipping out on a morning meal before leaving made him very anxious to eat. It felt weird, making three plates of food when their daughter was still visiting his mother and father's house.

In the other room, Sylvester was still paying close attention to the cartoon. _Kids, _he thought, smiling. He could probably yell and his attention wouldn't move from the television, but that's not something to test at seven in the morning.

He multi-tasked and made six pieces of toast before two eggs were done. Once the first two eggs were done he put the next two in the frying pan and made a fried egg sandwich for the raccoon, using only one of the eggs. Once the plate was made, he took it into the living room and sat it on a small table, which sat directly in front of the couch, between Sylvester and the television. The boy smiled at him slightly and muttered, "Thank you."

Joseph didn't know if he lied about being hungry or what when he heard his hardly audible voice, but shook it off and went back to the kitchen; he still needed to keep an eye on the two eggs still being fried.

Joseph's ears perked as he heard his wife coming down the steps. He continued to listen and heard her stop for a moment, then resume walking to the kitchen, towards him. She didn't bother playing games and spoke as direct as possible.

"Who is that in the living room?" she asked, not letting her emotions show. She didn't know what to think as there were too many possibilities.

Standing behind Joseph in a white robe was his wife of six years, Elizabeth "Liz" Fox. She was a vulpes of the same species as her husband, but her fur had a very light brown color to it. She had yellow eyes and long blue hair, which she kept straight, reaching past her shoulder blades. She was the same height as her husband and a year younger than him.

"Remember that call I got this morning," he began, flipping the two eggs on their other side.

"You mean the one where those assholes put you to work on OUR weekend? Yeah, what about it?" Her voice clearly told him that she was not at all happy, but at the same time gave him a feeling of comfort, knowing she cared for his physical and mental health. Being overworked generally led to more stress and poor work performances, neither of which he could afford.

He continued to watch the eggs and responded, "Yeah, that call." He motioned for his wife to come closer to him. She slowly approached and got right next to him. He then continued in a low voice, "That boy lost his parents. I don't know if he saw them die or what, but I never saw someone so young look as terrified as he did."

She put her paw to her mouth, gasping at what her husband just said. After a moment to think, she asked, "That's horrible, but why is he here and not at an orphanage?"

"About that," he started, taking the two eggs off the frying pan and placing them on a plate, which already contained an egg. "Let's move this discussion to the dining room."

Both proceeded towards the dining room, which was adjacent to the kitchen. He made two plates, each consisting of a sandwich; one had one egg, the other had two eggs. He sat the plate with two eggs down on their table, which was big enough for six people, and motioned for his wife to have a seat there. He took the spot next to her and sat his plate down too.

The entire walk to the table had his wife's mind frantically thinking of scenarios. _Witness protection? I know he's a victim, but why would he be here? It usually requires paperwork and approval, which takes quite some time. This is odd, but he must have a good reason. I haven't met him yet. Why would he want me to?_

"Hear me out first, okay?" he asked and she nodded, albeit confusedly. He continued, "I thought about this for the past hour or so, which is way less time than people would normally contemplate what I'm proposing. He has no family left. He told me his mother was expecting to have a daughter, which he then told me how excited he was. On the way here we had some fun and sang some songs, which I know he enjoyed; it was one of the first times I seen him in a cheerful mood. Aside from that, this is not an experience he can get over by just being sent to an orphanage. He needs love, guidance, and a family in his life."

"Now, I promised you I'd go out and help search for someone to add to our family, but work has kept me from doing this and I'm sorry. However, I really believe he would make a nice addition, which is why I'm asking for your approval to adopt him."

Speechless. Words would not leave her mouth as she took in everything he just said. She expected herself to be the one to connect with someone and ask her husband for his approval, not the other way around. Why is this the case? What was his name?

"What's his name," she asked, recalling the raccoon in her husband's Inspector jacket, which admittedly she found cute as it was just too large for the young raccoon.

"Sylvester Cooper," he replied, ready to hear his wife's opinions. Truth be told, he didn't know what his wife would think.

_Cooper? The same Cooper that he's been obsessing over for so long? I thought he hated them? There must be more to this than meets the eye, _she thought.

"Why do you want to adopt him?" she questioned.

He started to repeat what he said, "I told you, I connected with him and think he could use a better future than steal-"

"Don't you lie to me," his wife interrupted, speaking in a strict voice. She continued once she had his attention, "Do not play me for a fool, Joseph. You tell me why you want to adopt the son of the man you obsessed over, and you tell me now, dammit."

He didn't want to bring this up, but lying to his wife even further would land him in hot water. Love doesn't just go away when you open up, it only brings you closer. Taking in a deep breathe and exhaling, he spoke up, "He was terrified when I got to him. I pray he didn't witness their deaths, but I started talking to him about a few things, one of them being his excitement over having a sister being brought into this world." He paused, and lowered his head. He continued, "After he told me about this, he broke down, wondering why they didn't kill him. I seen his eyes as sadness and tears poured out of him. Next thing I know he's embracing me, refusing to let go."

"I thought of you, while I held on to him," he said as his glossy eyes looked back towards his wife. He continued, "I thought of how horrible of a husband I was to not give you the one thing in this world you wanted more than anything. I thought of how this boy would never again feel the tender affection his own mother would give to him and how he'd never have a sister to grow up with. I caved, pressured from both sides, and wanted to bring him out of this experience with hands there to guide him."

"I despised what his father did, I'll admit, but I thought about what would happen if I just sent him to an orphanage, where he may or may not ever get help overcoming this tragedy. What if he ended up just like his father? Would I be the one to blame? What if he ends up in a mental institution, regressing from the wonders this world could prove him?"

Somehow, someway, the child of his most obsessed criminal wrapped his arms around his heart. He said one final thing before he couldn't speak without choking, "I'm ashamed I couldn't take time off to help our family expand, but I honestly cannot go on with my life if I let that boy continue to suffer. He ended up on Death's footstep and lived. He needs a family, not just a place to live."

His wife had tears leaking down her muzzle along with his, touched that he opened up to her in such a deep way. She approached him, motioned for him to stand, and embraced him, resting her head upon his shoulder. After a few moments of swinging from side to side and enjoying the moment, she spoke up, "You are not a horrible husband, Joseph. Don't ever think that again." She retracted her head from his shoulder and looked him in the eyes and spoke, "I love you so much. You have my approval on this, on one condition."

"Anything," he replied.

She gave him her condition, "You take Monday and Tuesday off. I know you have to go back out there today, maybe even tomorrow, but you take those two days off and you make him feel at home."

He smiled and kissed his wife, realizing he made her day today, and it was only 7am! He backed away a bit and spoke, "I can only take those days off on one condition."

"You're playing with fire, Joseph. Name it," she replied almost hostilely, but in a joking kind of way.

"Promise to never let me stop loving you," he said, kissing her again. Both smiled and enjoyed the moment, until Joseph spoke up again, "I'm going to tell him the news. After that, I have to leave for a while. He needs clothes, and I need to be at the crime scene. Don't tell him I'm returning to his house."

She nodded and he continued, "While I'm gone, it'd be a great opportunity for you to get to know him a little more."

* * *

Joseph returned to the living room and spotted the raccoon still eating his sandwich…well, more like still watching the television. Only about three-fourth of the sandwich was eaten. He chuckled and prepared his thoughts.

Walking up to Sylvester, he said, "Hey, I got a surprise for you. Follow me."

His ears perked up and he looked up at Joseph. After a moment of pondering, he obliged and proceeded to follow the vulpes. He went up the stairs, which caught the raccoon off guard. As he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed him standing inside an open doorway, which happened to be the first room on the top floor.

Joseph gestured the boy to enter and he did. Inside, a room with nothing more than the bare commodities returned to the eyes of the raccoon; this was a guest bedroom. The boy didn't have a clue about what surprise awaited him.

He looked up at the vulpes and asked, "So, what surprise is here?"

"You don't see it?" replied a smirking Joseph.

The boy looked back into the room and returned a confused gaze towards the vulpes again, "I don't see it. What's here?"

Seeing as he had him wait long enough, Joseph spoke, "I don't fault you for not seeing it. Your surprise, however, is not just in this room. It's downstairs, in the living room, in the kitchen, in the dining room, inside this room, and under this roof."

The boy wasn't one who could answer riddles at his age as he still had no clue what was going on. Joseph then took a knee and looked at the boy before him.

"Your surprise is something most inherit by birth. It's tougher than the toughest of bonds. It's the one thing you can rely on when nothing is ever going your way. It's a shoulder to lean on, but not really a person," he paused and put on a heartwarming smile. He continued as his eyes were about ready to tear up again, "Your surprise, is a family. A family to love you, to support you, and to never let you roam this world alone. Do you wish to become part of the Fox family, where you will have me, my wife, and our daughter to share memories with?"

The boy didn't move as he just looked upon the visage of the vulpes before him. Shocked couldn't even describe his feelings. He assumed this was just a small detour to the orphanage, where he would be dropped off into a place of unwanted children. Food and entertainment helped ease his mind, but now…now he didn't know what to think. He felt a sense of belonging, but he just had his life destroyed only hours ago. Why? Why did things go his way all of a sudden?

Acceptance. He felt the genuine care of the Inspector. In his mind, being here with all the things promised was a blessing. With haste, he ran into Joseph and hugged him tightly. No more words exchanged between the two as they took in the moment. Could Joseph be a good father to him? How long would it take to ease him into this new family?

While still embracing his newest family member, Joseph spoke in a quiet voice, too quiet for even the raccoon to hear, "Welcome to the family, son."

* * *

**Things will be slow at first before I get to the hub of this story. Sly still needs to get to know his family, so this won't be an immediate adjustment. Also, if this chapter does not help you understand the Carmelita and Sly relationship I'm going to put in here, then I don't know what will. I had most of this chapter finished when I uploaded prologue, so that's why I'm done with it now.**


	3. Chapter 2: Acceptance

**This took quite a bit of time to do. Thanks for the follows and reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter as I can't believe I could type this one out.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Acceptance**

_Is this real? Is this truly happening? What did the man who chased my father for years see in me? Was it pity? Why, why did I have everything in my life stripped from me, only to have it given back?_

_Even with this feeling of confusion, I had to realize exactly what was going on. Instead of being dropped off at an orphanage, I've been given a second chance. I may have only known him for a little over an hour, but for some reason I feel like I can trust this man._

_To say I'm nervous is an understatement; I still had to meet his wife and daughter. He told me his daughter, whose name is Carmelita, won't be here until tomorrow. That left me with him and his wife for the day. Would she accept me? I mean, it's not like Joseph simply allowed me to be a part of his family without her consent, right? Oh jeez I'm nervous, but if I'm going to be a part of this family, then I'm going to have to meet her._

* * *

He sat down, near a vixen. An educated guess by him deduced she was the wife of the man who took him in.

Together, the vulpi couple and the raccoon took a place at the dining room table, with Sylvester sitting directly across from the vixen. Joseph sat in between them at the head of the table.

The boy was already acquainted somewhat comfortably with Joseph, but he still didn't get a chance to meet the two females of the family. While Joseph ate his breakfast, the vixen decided to talk to her new family member, thereby ending the awkward silence.

Speaking in a soft, calm voice, she introduced herself, "Hello, little one. My name is Elizabeth Fox. What's your name?"

"Sylvester, Sylvester Cooper," he responded, a little nervous around this new person. It'd take some getting used to, but she was beautiful like his mother.

"What a lovely name," she began, flashing him a smile. She continued, "I think Carmelita would love to meet you."

"Is she, umm-?" Sylvester tried to ask, but couldn't get the right words to form.

She interrupted him, sensing his uneasiness, "She's my daughter. By the way," she started, trying to get more information from the boy, "How old are you?"

"Five, almost six," he responded.

_Carmelita would love a younger brother. She turned six a week ago, June 2__nd_, she thought.

She noticed something about the raccoon. Blurting it out loud would only make it worse, so she made a mental note of it and spoke to her husband, who was still eating his sandwich, "Honey, do we have any clothes for him to wear?"

He sat his sandwich down and swallowed what was in his mouth before speaking, "No. I'll get him some clothes when I return home later." _I'm pretty sure I can take his clothes from his room when I'm done investigating later,_ he thought.

Returning her attention to Sylvester, Elizabeth spoke, "Is there anything you wanted to ask us, Sylvester?"

Remembering his excitement about having a sister, he asked, "When will I meet Carmelita?"

"She should be here tomorrow morning," she answered.

"What's for lunch," he asked immediately afterwards.

She figured he'd enjoy what her daughter usually eats, and nothing is more enjoyable than dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. She answered, "I think I'll make us some chicken nuggets. How's that sound?"

His face beamed with happiness and he responded, "I love chicken nuggets."

Before he could ask another quick question, Joseph spoke up saving his wife from question overload, "All right. Now that breakfast is over, I have to put in a few hours at the office."

"You mean, you won't be here today?" asked Sylvester in a sad tone, in which his ears also drooped.

"I'll be back by lunch time," he started. His paw then rustled the top of Sylvester's head as he continued, "After that I'll be free the rest of the day, and the next two days. Sound ok?"

The raccoon smiled and watched the vulpes put his dish in the sink and walk next to the vixen. She told him something inaudible to him, in which he did the same back to her, in the same inaudible voice. After kissing her and waving towards Sylvester, he proceeded to the front door to put on a pair of boots. He left moments later, oblivious to the fact he no longer had his Inspector's overcoat on. Luckily for him, each Inspector (and other Interpol employee's) had a secondary badge embedded to their wallets.

* * *

His fur directly below his eyes was wet with sadness, even if it's been a while since he cried. She didn't want to appear ignorant, but he needed a bath, if only to cleanse his body of his depression.

"Sylvester," she began. His attention focused on her as she continued, "Are you tired?"

"Yes," he responded.

"I know you won't feel comfortable with this, but you need a bath before you can take a nap," she said, and immediately noticed his uneasiness.

_I know he won't accept me as his mother for a while, but the best I can do is act like one around him, starting now, _she thought.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed to be seen naked. No, his nervousness came from the fact it would be someone who would be his second mother, especially one of a different species. As much as he really didn't want to go through with this, he had to remember he was now apart of the Fox family. He was given a second chance, one he won't be anxious to mess up.

With a tone of defeat, he replied, "Okay."

"I'll lead the way. Trust me, this won't take long," she said.

Elizabeth lifted herself out of her chair and motioned for Sylvester to follow. He obliged, but took his time. After exiting the dining room, she led him to the staircase. She motioned for him to go first, that way she could ensure he wouldn't fall down. He went slow, always looking behind him each step. Each time she'd simply smile and urge him to continue in a sweet voice.

They reached the top of the stairs and the raccoon didn't know where to go. This was his second time up here, and he only knew that his room resided to his left. He seen the vixen move past him and lead him to a door, which stood directly in front of him at the top of the steps; this was their bathroom.

The vixen went inside and motioned for him to join her, but he resisted, standing outside looking quite nervous. He didn't know how to ask her, but his natural urge eluded his mind ever since his abrupt awakening until this very moment. She noticed this and didn't hesitate to question.

"Is something the matter, Sylvester?"

"I-I-I have to g-go to the b-bathroom really bad," he replied in a shaky voice.

She merely smiled and spoke in an understanding voice, "Don't be shy. Our home is your home. I'll give you some privacy, but when you're done I want you to open the door so we can get you cleaned up."

"Thank you, Mrs. Fox," he replied. With that, the child was left alone to do his business while Elizabeth made use of this newly allocated time.

She went into her bedroom and searched for her husband's robe. It was several sizes too large for the raccoon, but Joseph would be back in a few hours with clothes, at least that's what she told him before he left. She figured there'd be no harm in letting Sylvester wear his robe.

During her search for the robe, her mind began thinking about how he called her "Mrs. Fox." She would be patient and let him come around, but could she really fill the void in his heart when his mother died?

Elizabeth had a different role to play for each of her family members. For Joseph, she was a wife. A wife could be considered by most one of the greatest friends a spouse could have, able to talk about any subject and not be judged about it. Absolute trust in one another made this relationship strong.

To Carmelita, she was a mother. This role was given to her the instant she breathed life for the first time, being held and cherished as Elizabeth welcomed her to the world. It was her duty to ensure her daughter had the necessary preparation to lead a healthy life style.

She frowned as Joseph's robe was clenched in her paws, realizing her role for their newest family member. He had a family already, consisting of a mother and a father. He had everything needed for a healthy life, but now that responsibility fell upon her and Joseph. As much as she hated to admit it, she was a replacement. Like all replacements, it took getting used to. Only time will tell, but until he came around, she'd understand and answer to Mrs. Fox, Elizabeth, or, one day, mom.

While on her way back, she noticed the bathroom door ajar and went inside. The raccoon was standing there, gazing at the bathtub. She approached him and asked, "Let's get you cleaned up, shall we?"

The raccoon nodded and she sat her husband's robe on the sink's countertop. Their bathroom wasn't huge, but it had the necessary commodities. Directly to the right of the door was their toilet. Directly across the toilet sat the sink, with an extended countertop surrounding it. Next to the sink and in their top-left corner, parallel with the sink, was the bathtub and shower combination; there were different types of bottles running along the perimeter of the bathtub. Directly across from the bathtub in the top-right corner was a cabinet, which held towels, washcloths, and other bathroom accessories.

The vixen went over towards the cabinet and took out two washcloths, one large drying towel, and a small plastic cup. Afterwards, she approached Sylvester and asked, "Have you ever had a bubble bath?"

"No, what is it?" he replied with another question.

"You'll see," she responded, smiling and trying to keep the raccoon at ease.

She went over to the bathtub and switched it to bathing mode. Next, she started running water, trying to find a nice balance of hot and cold mixture. Once she felt this would be a comfortable temperature to bathe in, she put a stopper atop the drain and poured a pink liquid into the running water.

Bubbles began to form as the tub filled up, which intrigued the raccoon. He reached and touched a bubble, only to have it pop. He smiled upon doing this, which also made the vixen smile. After the tub filled enough, she stopped the flow of water and then spoke to him.

"All right then, let's get you clean."

There was no turning back. He had to get clean, but no matter how much the bubbles intrigued him, he still understood he'd have to expose himself to a new person. She only wanted to help him, and the bubbles helped ease him a bit.

She knew he'd be shy, so she simply turned around and said, "I won't look. Get undressed, then get into the tub. The bubbles will cover you up."

While he did as instructed, she realized she made a miscalculation when getting things ready for his bath; she forgot an extra towel to keep him from being any more embarrassed after he's done bathing. She went over to the cabinet and proceeded to open it when she heard a small splashing noise emit from the direction of the raccoon. After she grabbed a medium sized towel and closed the cabinet, she went back to the tub to see the raccoon had his lower body submerged beneath the bubbles.

He may have appeared nervous initially, but he began feeling the bubbles press against his fur. It felt oddly comforting and he wanted nothing else than to splash around, but before he could the vixen spoke to him.

"We can't be too long. Are you ready?"

He nodded affirmatively, albeit weakly, signaling he was ready to bathe and renew his appearance. She folded a washcloth in half and held it up to his eyes. She then spoke reassuringly to him, "This is to keep the water from entering your eyes. Do you understand?"

Of course he understood since his mother used to give him baths just like this. However, she didn't want to appear too overbearing to Sylvester this early on. She then placed the washcloth over his eyes, which caused him to tighten his eyelids, preventing any attempts at the water irritating him. Next, she began filling up the cup and slowly pouring water over his head, allowing it to trickle down his body to further wet all of his fur.

With all of his fur soaking wet, she sat the washcloth that covered his eyes down on the bathtub's perimeter and wet another one. She squeezed a bottle of body wash into the new cloth.

"Here you go. Make sure you cover every part of you," she said, handing the cloth infused with body wash to the raccoon. He obliged and proceeded to slowly cover each inch of his body, except one noticeable part.

"Can you help me?" he asked, lowering his head.

"But you're doing so well on your own. Why do you need my help?" she asked, continuing to express a happy façade to him.

He simply lowered his head even further and spoke in an embarrassed tone, "I can't reach my tail."

Elizabeth mentally slapped herself, forgetting that young ones have little control over their tails. She replied, "Of course I'll help you. May I please have the rag?"

Sylvester didn't lift his head as he gave her the rag. She took it and started on his tail. As she was doing this, she could hear him laughing slightly; the tail is still a sensitive part, even with little control over it at his age.

After she made sure she got the cleaning liquid into his tail fur, she spoke, "I'm going to be placing the rag over your eyes again. Are you ready?"

He nodded his response, which prompted her to place the cloth from the tub's perimeter to his eyes. Once again, his eyelid's tightened.

With each cup of water running down his fur, dirt and doubt washed away. Both were very uneasy with this, but the raccoon accepted that she didn't mind having him live with her. Two family members made an impression on him: Joseph with his cheerful and kind nature and Elizabeth with her motherly, understanding nature. What would Carmelita be like?

Elizabeth stopped pouring water over his fur and smiled at him, "Now, that wasn't so bad. Did you enjoy the bubble bath?"

In truth, he had mixed opinions on the bath, but replied, "I liked the bubble bath, but, umm…."

Elizabeth felt worried for a moment, thinking she did something wrong. She didn't hesitate and asked, "You can say whatever is on your mind."

He looked up at her smiling and responded, "Next time, could it be longer?"

_Longer? Oh thank goodness, for a minute there I thought I did something wrong, _she thought.

Believing the bubbles brought him comfort and joy, she replied, "For now on, we'll take our time. How's that sound?"

His face beamed with happiness as next time he bathed, he would enjoy popping bubbles. After a moment, Elizabeth spoke again, "We need to get you dried off, before you catch a cold. Wait here a moment."

She proceeded to the countertop and fetched two towels. She then returned to her spot and sat the large drying towel next to the tub. In her paws was a medium sized towel, perfect for wrapping around him to make him more at ease.

"I'm going to wrap this around you so I can get all of your fur dry. Are you okay with this?" she asked.

He nodded and she then motioned for him to stand. The towel she held was unfolded and stretched as far as she could make it. After he stood up, she hurriedly wrapped it around his waist. After fixing it so it would stay wrapped around him, she picked him up and placed him just out of the tub. She then took the larger towel and began removing water from his fur.

After drying all parts of him (except the area wrapped around by the medium sized towel), she went back to the countertop and unfolded her husband's bathrobe. She then went over to the raccoon and helped get him to wear it, as well as tie the straps securely around him.

Trying to hold back her laughter, Elizabeth took a step back and examined him. The robe was far too large for him to wear without it dragging. His paws hardly reached outside the arm slots, causing a large amount to dangle at the ends. She found him to look adorable in the robe.

Confused as to why she was staring at him, Sylvester tilted his head at her. He tried to take one step towards the vixen when she nearly yelled, "STOP!"

Elizabeth ran up to him upon telling the raccoon to stop, ready to catch him had he tripped. She got down on one knee and spoke to him after noticing his ears slightly drooped, "I can't have you moving around wearing this. You'll trip and get hurt. Understand?"

"Okay," he responded, calming down a bit, but still had his ears drooped.

"It's time for a nap, but I need to carry you to the living room to do that. Is it alright if I carry you?" she asked with a smile. Eventually, they'll be on a more understanding basis, but asking and taking things slow will pay off in the end.

He nodded and put his arms in front of him, signaling that he was ready. Holding back a giggle, the vixen picked him up and secured her grip around him. He put his arms around her neck for added protection if he were to slip.

While she to carried him down to the living room, Sylvester couldn't help but compare the vixen to his mother. It felt strange at first, but he came to accept that she's doing what a mother should do. In her arms, he felt comfort and warmth. This was different than when Joseph carried him. Sure he felt safe then too, but in the arms of the vixen he felt something stronger.

He felt loved. The vixen didn't have to agree to let him stay. She also didn't have to help him take a bath. He knew she felt a little uncomfortable bathing him, but she did it anyways. The entire time he's been with the vixen, he's felt nothing but happiness anytime she looked at him.

He tightened his grip around her neck and closed his eyes as they went down the stairs. She assumed he did it to keep himself from slipping, but really he wanted to get closer to her, savoring the experience of being loved again.

This experience, unfortunately, had to come to an end as the vixen now stood before the couch in the living room; this was the same one he sat on earlier watching cartoons. She expected him to slowly let go so she could set him down, but he didn't make any movement. She knew he didn't fall asleep, so she just assumed he was pre-occupying his mind.

"We're here. Time for that nap," she said. No reaction came from the raccoon. She spoke a little louder, but with the same comforting tone, "Sylvester, I need you to let go of me."

His eyes shot open and took in his surrounding. Reluctantly, he let go of the vixen as she sat him on the couch.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said.

He waited for her to get back and noticed the television was still on. As much as he wanted to watch cartoons, his eyes just wouldn't be able to focus.

The vixen returned with a red blanket and a pillow, which she took from his bedroom, the previously used guest room. She sat the pillow on the edge of the couch and motioned for the raccoon to rest his head there. He obliged and she then covered his body up with the blanket; it was a light blanket, used for comfort mostly.

Once she seen him covered up snugly, she turned off the television and spoke to him, "I'll wake you up when it's time to eat. Rest well, little one."

The day may have only started for the raccoon, but so many things happened to him in such a short amount of time that it left him drained. He surrendered to his tiredness and closed his eyes. It's an understatement that he needed this nap.

The vixen left him to relax while she went into the dining room, but not before she grabbed the house phone from the living room table. She had many friends and relatives to call, excited to let them know of the little raccoon she was now responsible for.

* * *

Joseph made it to Interpol's Paris headquarters in ten minutes due to his home's proximity. While looking unprofessional (Sly has his Inspector's overcoat), he had to flash his wallet embedded badge to the guards at the entrance of the building.

He hated…no, despised working this weekend. Ever since he was put in charge of catching Connor, he rarely had weekends off; at least two weekends a month were taken from him to travel to other countries. Now that Interpol's most wanted thief no longer breathed life, Joseph would more than likely have a standard work schedule, with the exception of traveling if it came to that.

This weekend was meant to be spent close to his wife: no Carmelita, no Interpol, no worries. Sadly, it went down the drain before it even began. He had to keep his eyes forward as this weekend may be ruined with work, but he at least got Monday, Tuesday, and the remaining weekends off again.

His mind reverted back to the task at hand as he made his way towards his office. On the way he saw Sampson and Susan still at their desks and motioned for them to follow. He had to be brief as they were on the clock for another twenty minutes before their shift was over; they worked midnight shift, which started at midnight and ended at eight in the morning.

He was simply following procedures at this point, but also had to remember each person was limited here. While he may be an Inspector, not everyone had the freedom he had.

Interpol had many diverse field agents. At the lowest end were the peacekeeper's, most commonly known by Interpol as Policia. There were many peacekeepers: traffic control cops, patrol officers, courthouse officers, desk operators, etc. These peacekeepers were the backbone of Interpol. Jurisdiction of the Policia did not extend outside the country they were employed.

A tier above Policia resided the Constables. These were a more specialized version of the Policia, having more training in shock based weapons and non-lethal apprehension tactics. A Constable must always have a partner. More specialized, part of a team, and more freedom gave Constables priority when it came to crime scenes in which a detective was not present at the moment. Their jurisdiction depended on who their partner happened to be, in which they upheld their jurisdiction too. If the partner was also a Constable, then their jurisdiction encompassed their country of employment plus any authorized out of country job, in which that city they worked in came under their jurisdiction as well.

Above Constables were the brains of Interpol; detectives. Detectives specialized in crime scenes, in which they gather evidence. After this they begin to piece the evidence together, follow leads, interrogate individuals, and anything else that could help in solving a case. A detective also must have a partner, in which a Constable was the most common choice. A team consisting of a Constable and Detective gave you the "brains and brawn" combination. Jurisdiction for a detective did not extend outside the continent they were employed, unless they were partnered with an Inspector.

The highest tier of field agents for Interpol belonged to the Inspector. An Inspector was the pride and right hand of Interpol. Very few people ever attained this title; there wasn't a cap on the number of Inspector allowed, only that the qualifications needed to be met were extremely high. Inspectors were those who could single handedly handle a case like a detective, had specialized weapon training like a Constable, had great leadership skills, and passed many mentally demanding tests. An Inspector is not required to have a partner as they are deemed fit to handle any situation with the efficiency of multiple people, but that didn't mean they couldn't have one. Their jurisdiction had no bounds.

The one thing about an Inspector that separated them from any other tier was the fact they could use lethal force. No one but an Inspector was allowed to own or operate a non shock based firearm on the field. It was rare for an Inspector to even use a bullet based firearm, but some circumstances demanded it.

Once all were in Joseph's office, he motioned for them to have a seat across his desk. After he made himself comfortable, he spoke up, directing his attention to Sampson, "Give me a status update on our detectives."

"Sure thing, Mr. Roboto," said Sampson, snickering. Susan also joined in.

"Excuse me?" replied a confused Joseph.

"Don't get me wrong," he began, putting his hands up in a defensive manner and taking a brief moment to pause. He then continued, "But I have the update you want." He once again burst into full fledged laughter with Susan joining in with him. Now he knew something was going on.

"Okay, mind telling me what I'm missing?" asked Joseph, confused and a tad bit annoyed.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Sampson replied, "You singing along with that boy was simply too good."

His jaw dropped in shock. Confused, and with his cheeks turning red, but not visible due to his fur color, he asked, "How did you know?"

"Well, we tried contacting you, but you had your cell phone off. So, we decided to call you via cruiser, which also gave us a live feed of what was going on in your car. Needless to say, we didn't bother talking and listened."

Joseph took his cell phone out of his pocket and noticed it wasn't on. He tried powering it on, but it wouldn't. He mumbled to himself, "Damn thing. Always forgetting to keep it charged." He then put on a serious look and spoke to Sampson, "Alright, enough joking around. What's the status on those detective?"

"They just got the preliminary inspection done," Sampson replied, putting all joking aside.

"All right. Have they removed the bodies yet?" Joseph asked.

"They called in for an evac, which should have our pilot with two peace officers momentarily leaving." he replied.

"So I'm not too late to cause a delay," he began, relaxing a bit. He continued, "Can you contact the pilot and tell him I need a ride? Do that, then come back here."

Sampson nodded and scurried to his desk. This left him alone with Susan, a black furred she-wolf that appeared to be in her early twenties. With a straightforward tone, he spoke to her, "Susan, can I ask you to do something for me?"

"I don't have much time left, so if I can't then I apologize," she said, referring to how her shift would be ending soon. Even though it was the weekend, Interpol always had personal working. Five days out of the week were a requirement for most people. Some worked Monday through Friday, like Joseph; some Saturday through Wednesday, like Susan.

"I really do apologize for this, but you remember that boy you were on the phone with earlier?" he asked.

"I do. That reminds me, how's the little guy doing?" she asked, remembering just how scared she heard him when she talked to him, but also smiled, remembering the live feed of him and the Inspector singing.

"He's doing fine. Actually, it's about him that I need your help," he said, rubbing his right arm. He was very nervous about what he was going to ask her, but he didn't have the time to do that while he was needed elsewhere, Connor's house to be specific.

"Didn't you let child services handle him?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, no," he began as he now rubbed the back of his neck. He continued, "I think he would benefit from having a real home, and that's why I needed to ask you-" he was interrupted by the she-wolf before he got to finish his question.

"Oh! I mean, wow! I would love to help the little one out, but I'm not able to afford the cost of one extra person living with me. Maybe if I stop buying snacks, soda, maybe even those-" she was interrupted by Joseph, who slammed his right paw on the desk.

"Susan!" he half shouted moments after slamming his right paw down, ensuring he had her attention. She jumped and placed her paws over her mouth. Seconds later she relaxed and looked at Joseph. He continued after relaxing, "You didn't let me finish. I'm not asking you to let him live with you. I merely wanted to ask if we having any adoption forms around here."

She eyed him suspiciously, wondering why he was asking for adoption forms. After thinking briefly, she made a smile form across her muzzle. She answered, "We do have adoption forms, but I won't give them to you unless you explain why you need them."

Joseph sighed and replied, "I'm adopting Sylvester. I already told him he can live with us and is now part of our family."

Susan felt jealous at this, but happy knowing he had a family now. She then spoke up, "I'm happy for you, Joseph. However, I need to know why you want to adopt him when you hardly got to know him."

He shot her a defensive look and replied, "It's personal. Besides, he's a good kid."

"Hey, I'm not trying to pry into your personal life," she began, giving him a serious look. She continued, "You understand that protocol for sending a child from a crime scene anywhere requires our child's protection department to approve any non-orphanage relocations. If all you give me is that he's a 'good kid,' then what do you think the chances of you keeping him are?"

_Damn it. Here I thought it would as easy as filling out a form, _he thought.

Before he could continue his discussion, Sampson came back holding a bag.

"I informed the pilot and detective you were en route. Five minutes and he leaves. Take this with you," said Sampson, placing a brown paper bag on the table. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it held some food.

"Understood. That'll be all, Sampson. Enjoy your sleep," said Joseph as the feline left, leaving him alone with Susan again. He directed his attention to her again, "Now where were we?"

"We were at the part where you explain why you want to adopt him," said Susan, refreshing the Inspectors mind.

"Oh, right," he began, gathering his thoughts and continued, "I want to adopt him because he needs a family. A child that seen what I think he seen would have a hard time growing up without the care and support a family could provide."

"Hmm…that sounds like a good reason, but once they find out he's related to the same Cooper you've been chasing, then don't be surprise if they reject your-" she was cut off by him again.

"What? You mean to tell me they'd deny him a family just because I've had a history with his father?" Joseph replied, flabbergasted.

"I mean, it's a possibility. Don't get me wrong I hope you-" she never finished as yet again her sentence was interrupted.

"Susan, I have sacrificed so much of my time for Interpol. I had to leave my own family for months at times just for them," he began, very frustrated that he'd possible have to break his own promised to the raccoon. He continued, "Now, what kind of child protection department would send a mentally hurt child to an orphanage rather than to a home with a father, mother, and kid sister? I need your help on this, but you tell them that I will quit if they deny me."

Her face softened. It wasn't unheard of for people to form attachments with hardly any time to get to know the person (think love at first sight), but she sympathized with his reasoning. She spoke up after a moment of silence, "I'll do my best. For now, though, you have a chopper to get to."

"I suppose you're right," he replied, almost forgetting he was on a time limit. He grabbed the brown bag and began walking to the door, which caused Susan to stand and follow. Before he left, he turned around and asked her, "If he did end up at an orphanage, would you have tried to adopt him?"

Deep down, she really would've liked to have the raccoon living with her as a new family member. She wasn't financially stable to support that, but that didn't mean she wouldn't have scouted him out at whatever orphanage he ended up in. Time made things a possibility.

She replied, "Yes, I would have at least tried."

The Inspector smiled. She really did care for the little guy.

"If I end up with legal custody, then would you like to be our nanny when me and my wife go out?" he asked.

She was surprised at this offer and had to prevent herself from shouting. After a moment she replied, "I'd love to."

"Thank you. I better get this food to those detectives before they start eating out of the Cooper fridge," Joseph said jokingly, but at the same time realizing the seriousness of the investigation.

* * *

High above the ground and heading towards the scene of the disturbance that ruined his weekend was Joseph. He made it to the chopper in time, but that didn't prevent the pilot from scolding him. The chopper was initially sent to be an evac for the bodies of the two older Coopers. Calling in this favor to the pilot set him back a few minutes, which didn't look nice to him since he was expected to be prompt.

A short flight later, Joseph looked down at the clearing to see the two detectives helping the pilot land. Since he left, those two cleared the field for landing after collecting evidence and did their normal investigation on the inside of the house.

Joseph exited the chopper and approached the two detectives. One was a white vulpes whereas the other was a brown furred badger by the name of James Barkley. Both wore a standard issue detective overcoat, which was tan. The white vulpes sported black jeans whereas the badger sported blue jeans; no reason to look professional when responding to an emergency order at hardly a decent time.

"Inspector, nice to see you. Did you bring us something?" asked Barkley.

Joseph simply flashed the brown bag but didn't give it to them yet. They needed to finish their initial task of body extraction. The two officers that rode with Joseph ended up inside the building and began placing each Cooper inside a body bag. Once each were in a bag, the two officers proceeded to carry one bag, while the two detectives took the other.

Before the pilot got a chance to take off, Joseph spoke to him, "Come back as soon as you can."

"Roger that. Should take approximately a half hour, on account that I need to get this refueled," said the pilot.

With the pilot taking care of the next phase of body extraction, Joseph went over to the detectives and handed them the brown paper bag. They both went to the spot the chopper lifted off from and took a seat in the grass. This spot happened to be directly behind the house.

The contents of the bag were two cheeseburgers and two bottles of a root beer flavored soda.

"Did you guys seriously request that for breakfast," asked Joseph, eyeing the contents of the bag in disbelief.

The white vulpes simply began eating while Barkley replied, "Breakfast is when you wake up in the confines of your home, comfortable, and in no hurry to get the day started." He took a bite of the burger and continued after swallowing, "This here is lunch." He flashed the already bitten burger, "Lunch is when you just got done doing some work, which is we've been doing while the rest of the world lies in bed, sleeping."

"I'm sorry for making you guys work so early," said Joseph, feeling bad he requested help when he could have easily asked for someone to take the raccoon to an orphanage.

_Wait….I'm not sorry one damn bit. The smile that child gave me is all the assurance I need, _thought Joseph.

"Don't be sorry," replied Barkley who now took a drink from his bottled root beer. He continued after a refreshing sigh, "The victims here were extremely high profile. Aside from that, it's our job and it gives Lloyd over here a little more experience working with another detective."

Lloyd looked over once he heard his name and spoke up, with food still in his mouth, "Hey, I may be a rookie, but I know what I'm doing."

Barkley chuckled and continued, ignoring the comment Lloyd made, "You probably want to know about what we found out, right?" Joseph nodded affirmatively and Barkley spoke up again, "Well, let it wait until we're done refreshing our stomachs."

The Inspector patiently waited for the two detective to eat without any complaints; they earned a small break. Lloyd finished eating first, which caused Barkley to look at him and speak, "Don't be in such a hurry, kid. The crime scene isn't going anywhere."

Lloyd simply grunted, in which Barkley continued, "Don't think I'm picking on you. You need to keep a calm, relaxed approach when dealing with cases, whether you're on lunch break, at home, or on the job. Remember that, and you'll go far."

"Thanks," said Lloyd, annoyed at first, but then began to realize he was helping him become a better detective.

Both finished their lunch and decided to remain seated. Barkley spoke up, "All right. Now that lunch is over, time to get serious."

Joseph nodded and Barkley continued, "This was murder, no doubt about it. I followed your orders and cleared the clearing of evidence, in which I found blood belonging to Connor Cooper. His blood is also trailing from the front door to the middle of the living room. I ran a small test and determined the blood sample from inside the house is fresher."

"So that means he died outside and was dragged back in?" Joseph said, making an educated guess.

"It's the most likely case here," began Barkley. He continued after shifting through his notepad that he just took from his overcoat pocket, "The male raccoon had signs of wounds that would be consistent with force reducing-"

"Simplicity, Barkley. I don't got all day," Joseph said, interrupting the badger.

"Sorry, old habit. Anyways, the male raccoon was in an altercation, with his ribs more than likely being cracked. His left arm was completely snapped in half, probably means someone either knows their martial arts, or has lifted quite a bit. A single gunshot wound to the head killed him instantly."

"All this happened outside, correct?" asked Joseph.

"Correct." stated Barkley.

_Connor's more clever than that to simply get jumped out in the open. This can't be a one man job, _thought Joseph.

"Any indication that this was a multi-person job?" asked Joseph.

"That's the odd thing," began Barkley, which immediately caught the Inspector's attention. He continued, "We have four DNA samples: two hair strands, a fingernail, and, oddly enough, a bunch of saliva."

"So, what's the issue then? Give me the names and I'll go after them," responded Joseph, ready to track down the four names.

Barkley sighed and explained, "Well, I took each DNA sample and ran it through our DNA analyzer, which runs our findings through our servers down in Paris."

"And?" asked Joseph, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Not a single hit on one of the samples. I re-ran the scan two more times, each yielding the same result," said Barkley.

"How is that possible?" asked Joseph to himself. He looked at both detectives and asked, "How is it possible that we don't have these four in our data bank?"

"I don't know, but it makes it even harder to believe after we examined the inside of the house," said Barkley.

"I know, it was a mess. Wait, you said there was a lot of saliva found?" asked Joseph.

Instead of Barkley responding, Lloyd spoke up, "Yeah, it was all over the kitchen walls. I think one of our suspects is of the frog species."

_This doesn't make sense. Either we're dealing with the most careless criminals ever and it just so happens we don't have their DNA, or these guys knew they could get away with this, somehow, _thought Joseph.

"What else did you find out?" asked the Inspector.

"The female raccoon died of a single gunshot wound to the head," began Barkley, overtaking any further attempts from Lloyd to speak. He continued, "We also found some ash next to the bodies."

_The Thievius Raccoonus, _thought Joseph.

"Anything else?" inquired the Inspector.

"Well, if Lloyd's hunch is correct, then we do have some sort of a lead. There's not many frog's out there, so the sooner we get started the better," responded Barkley.

"Not much to go off of, but it's better than nothing. Thanks for responding to my call, both of you," said Joseph.

Both nodded and remained seated. Remembering what he told his wife this morning, he asked, "Hey, do you have a scene clearing bag on hand?"

"I have one," replied Lloyd. He continued, "It's in front of the stairs, next to your shock pistol."

"Thanks. I'll be inside for a moment," Joseph said.

He reached the front door and proceeded towards the stairs. Sure enough, there lay his shock pistol and a brown suitcase, which held Lloyd's gear. He put the shock pistol on his holster and opened the suitcase. Once he took the bag out, he proceeded to go to the top of the stairs.

He knew that, as long as it didn't interfere with an ongoing investigation, he wouldn't get chewed out by his superiors. Besides, it's not like the detective overlooked anything; they were paid to not overlook anything.

Joseph knew better than to take things from a crime scene of utmost importance. The boy's clothes did not fall under this category and he didn't regret what he was doing. Joseph went into the room he thought would be Sylvester's and walked towards the dresser on the left side. Opening the top draw confirmed this to be his room.

The dresser held all his clothes: shirts, socks, pants, shorts, pajamas, and underwear. Carefully, he took the folded clothes and sat them into the bag. After filling the bag up, he decided to take a gander at the room.

It was clean and undisturbed, aside from the bed. There was a large wooden chest in the room's top right corner, which probably held toys in it. He didn't know which toy the boy would want, so he made a mental note to take him shopping soon.

He tied the bag shut and sat it down in front of the steps. His laser and night vision goggles were still next to Connor and his wife's room. Last time he entered that room it was too dark to analyze, so he proceeded to the room and opened the door.

Once again, it was completely undisturbed aside from the bed. Whoever these suspects were kept their chaos to the bottom floor. The room had two dressers, one of which had many bells atop it.

_Someone liked to collect bells, _thought Joseph.

Nothing of interest really struck his eyes until he looked above the wall the bed rested against. There, laying across two wooden brackets, was the object every Cooper didn't leave without. Joseph did research on Connor's ancestors and concluded it was a family heirloom, passed down from father to son. The Cooper Cane belonged to someone with the title "Master Thief."

He didn't want to go through with his mind process, but they simply couldn't ignore that Sylvester had a family before he became part of the Fox family. At least with this, the boy would have something to remember his mother and father from. Carefully, Joseph lifted the cane from the brackets and examined it more. He was astonished it was so light, yet could handle the arduous tasks demanded from it.

With nothing else of interest in his sight, he went back to the top of the stairs and picked the bag up. With a Cane in one paw and the bag in the other, he proceeded back outside with the detectives.

As he neared them, Lloyd looked at him and said, "Hey, what do you think you're doing with that?" He was referring to the cane, not the bag.

"Relax. It's not of importance to this investigation," replied Joseph.

"But-" Barkley interrupted Lloyd before he made another rookie mistake.

"Lloyd, listen for a moment," he began, which got Lloyd's attention. He continued when the Inspector placed the bag and cane near the them, "Joseph over here has been working on busting the same person we sent out of here in a body bag for years. Don't think for a moment that he'd break protocol, especially now. Neither the bag nor the cane is of any importance to solving this case. Besides that, it makes our job easier on the clean up crew."

Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck and replied, "Sorry about that. I'm just overly anxious being part of this case."

Joseph chuckled and replied, "It's quite all right. I'll document what I took before I go back in tomorrow, which reminds me." Joseph directed his attention to Barkley and continued, "I need you to inform the chief that I won't be in Monday or Tuesday, but I'll put in some time tomorrow. Tell him they're vacation days, could you?"

"Sure thing bud. You done for the day?" asked Barkley.

"Yeah, I promised my wife this would be our weekend, so I'm going to try and salvage it as much as possible," Joseph responded.

"You can start now, cause I see our ride out of here," said Barkley, pointing to the chopper en route to their location.

All three got up and helped the pilot land, putting an end to all of their day.

* * *

Joseph proceeded back to his home after a long day in the field. His wife greeted him outside the house around 10:00, informing him that Sylvester was asleep. He then decided to put the boy's clothes away as well as placing the cane atop the dresser; it was a temporary place until he could get brackets into the wall.

With two hours remaining until they prepared lunch for Sylvester, Joseph and Elizabeth sat in the dining room, enjoying each others company and talking about the legal situation regarding the boy.

Surprisingly, the vixen seemed to be more ticked off than Joseph initially. They then talked about what to do once Carmelita got home. Elizabeth informed many of her relatives and friends of her adopted son. Of all the people she called, she made sure that they didn't tell Carmelita, something she made especially clear when talking to Joseph's parents.

The rest of the day went by slow. Joseph helped the boy into his clothes after he woke up and got him to eat. He enjoyed the chicken nuggets, especially the shapes they were in.

The whole day was dedicated to all three of them sitting around and watching comedy movies, as well as Disney movies. The boy enjoyed the movies while Joseph enjoyed seeing them together as a family.

Tomorrow would be a special day, the day the Fox household stood four members strong. The couple planned something that day that would encompass all four of them.

Nine at night came and all three were supposedly sound asleep, having retired at eight at night.

A knocking on the door could be heard, which alerted the vulpi couple. Joseph took it upon himself to get up, since he was the closest to the door. He only wore shorts, which allowed him to keep much cooler at night.

He opened his door, only to be met with a sobbing Sylvester.

"What wrong, buddy?" asked a now concerned Joseph.

"I-I'm scared. Can I sleep with you?" replied the raccoon.

_I should have known, but what is he scared of? I'll get him a nightlight later, but for now he needs us, _thought Joseph as his face softened.

"Sure thing. Come here," said Joseph, motioning for the pajama wearing raccoon to enter. He obliged, but went slow.

Without warning, he spoke, "I-I don't like the dark. I see him there."

"See w-" Joseph stopped himself, almost about to bring up a touchy subject.

_He may be referring to…who am I kidding. Him being safe is more important than getting information out of him, _thought Joseph.

By now, the vixen was sitting up in bed, watching the boy approach as she turned on the lamp next to her. She wore a pink silk nightgown and had most of her lower body covered up. She tracked the boy and he kept coming towards her as Joseph closed the door.

Once he got within arms reach of the vixen, she spoke up, "Is everything o-"

She was cut off by a now re-sobbing Sylvester. He clutched her tightly and let tears freely fall from him. She returned the hug as Joseph returned to his side of the bed, but didn't cover up.

After a few moments of hugging, she asked the raccoon, "Would you like to sleep with us tonight?"

He nodded as she helped him into the bed. He was placed in the middle of the vulpi couple, but he returned to clutching the vixen once all three were covered up. The vixen turned the lamp off and spoke softly to him, "I'm here now. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Joseph then put an arm around both the vixen and the raccoon for added comfort as he spoke, "I'm here too, buddy. We won't let anything happen to you. Get some rest, we got a big day tomorrow."

His sobbing stopped and he had warmth and security all around him. Within moments he could be heard snoozing. The vulpi couple looked at one another and simply smiled. They accepted their role as a parent to the boy, and the boy accepted them as parents, but not by calling them mom and dad. No, that will take some time, but until then life goes on for the Fox family.

Before dozing off, Joseph spoke quietly to his wife, "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied. Sleep overtook them minutes later, but one thing remained certain for them.

Waking up before 9:00 was not an option.

* * *

**I could have made this chapter 12K - 15K words long, but that's really long, so I sorta summarized how the end of his day went. Nothing really happened except them watching movies and stuff, which wouldn't be worth going into detail. To clear up some confusing, "Don't get me wrong" and "Mr. Roboto" were 80's songs Joseph and Sly were singing during the car ride home. Don't think too much about the bathing scene, just know that it was important. Aside from that I plan on writing next chapter with Carmelita in it. How will she act? Why did she become an Inspector? You'll see, but after next chapter I plan on doing a little time skip. This story is almost done with his early life, which will then transfer into his teenage life, which will then get into the hub of the story. Thanks for reading.**


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